14 DAY TRIAL // In a new set of actions destined to return the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to its full capabilities, experts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are planning to upload a new set of commands to the ailing Martian probe. They argue that the glitch that prompted the orbiter's computer to reboot on August 26 left the spacecraft vulnerable to certain glitches. Mission controllers believe that the new lines of code will restore at least some of the original functions that the MRO instruments had before the mishap.
The August malfunction is not the only one that was recorded this year, the team says. The computers also shut down previously on February 23, June 3 and August 6, and, since the fourth time this happened, experts have been frantically trying to figure out the root cause. They also attempted to analyze the implications that the glitches had, or might have, on the ship's systems, and how these changes would affect its future operations. Since the second August incident, MRO has performed little science, as it was kept in “safe mode,” which means that only basic systems such as altitude control and propulsion were left online. Its instruments were not used during these months.
The JPL team discovered in its investigation that the main culprit that was responsible for the four reboots was a piece of equipment known as the “computer module interface controller.” This device basically controls which of the two computer systems aboard the MRO is in control of the spacecraft at all times. The engineers believe that the issue resides either in the controller itself, or in a voltage glitch that hampers with its normal operations. At this point, more than 100 factors are being taken into consideration as possible causes for the four glitches.
“We plan to begin uplinking protective files next week. This process is to bulletproof the spacecraft against a remote vulnerability that our team identified. Meanwhile, analysis of possible root causes for the four reboots this year continues as another important part of our path toward resuming science operations,” JPL MRO Project Manager Jim Erickson says. The Laboratory is a NASA institution, based at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in Pasadena, California.
“The precautionary steps we are taking are not driven by the calendar, but by our commitment to care for this valuable national resource. We are all eager to have science observations resume as soon as a properly cautious process allows,” he adds. The MRO is indeed highly valuable for NASA and the whole world. It has provided the largest amount of images and other data on the Red Planet ever produced, and has also acted over the years as a relay between the Mission Control and the two MER components, Spirit and Opportunity, which are stuck and roving, respectively, on the surface of Mars.